Of Strength and Courage: A Lily Evans Story
by Stine8503
Summary: This is the first story in a three part set I'm writing. This follows Lily through Hogwarts, year one through seven. With experiences that shape her life. Obviously not as good as JK Rowling but hey...It will be a Lily and James love story.
1. The Representitive

**Author Note**

**I started this story quite awhile ago. I originally wanted to wait until I had finished this one to post it, but I think it's ridiculous when I know that two other stories are going to be linked with this one. So, I'll probably be writing for the majority of this year and some of next before this thing is completely done. There were a few things I wanted to tell readers before they start this, my main concern is this ultimately will be a James and Lily story. But this is her life in her point of view, and the things that happen in here are going to shape her life. Rather than having it be 800 chapters (I probably can do that...) There are four for each year, plus a prologue, and an epilogue giving some closure. I'm a fan of Lily and Snape friendship but I can't help but fell when you read this you'll probably see it not go that way at all and get a little frustrated. It may hint at Lily and Remus too, but again, in the end she'll be with James because that's how completely cannon I am. As for the other two stories, I'm writing one for Sirius and one for Snape. Why not James as they're my favorite Potterverse couple? Because you'll know everything you'll need to about him between Sirius and Lily. I'm just going with who my personal favorites, and after I though about it the trio are over lapping more than I thought possible. As I'm posting this one first, and the other two are far behind it in numbers of chapters I really can't alert you to which ones will crossover and which wont. You'll have clues by the titles if you wanted to look them up. If not, they're completely stand alone, I just think the way they over lap gets you a better impression on how I think the characters developed.**

**Cheers!**

**Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter, if she didn't and I did, I'd already have a series about the Marauders. **

**Prologue: The Representative**

**Mr. and Mrs. Evans were extremely normal in every way. They lived in a cozy house, in an average town. They had two daughters, both bright, excellent in school. But they, like any other family had a secret, one that didn't scare them, one until possibly this instant they didn't dwell upon, or give much thought to. One that defiantly made them different from the average family they thought they were.**

"**Mum," Lily called. "I got a letter, may I open it?" Lily asked her mother. She had a manila letter sized envelope in her hand, which appeared to be stuffed.**

"**Well, lets see..." She took the letter and read who the sender was. They were expecting letters from a few schools in the area since Lily would need to start at a new school this September. "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?" She handed it back to Lily. "You can open it dear, lets see what it says."**

**Lily opened the letter. She was a bit excited, she never got mail. Any mail for her was addressed to her parents. Then again, who would write to an eleven year old?**

**Dear Ms. Evans, it started. Lily seemed much more interested now. **

**We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September First. We await your owl by no later than July 31st****.**

"**Await...my Owl..." Lily looked a bit taken. "What do you suppose that means Mum?"**

**They looked at the school list, which seemed a bit odd to both of them. "We'll have to wait until your father comes home. I don't know what to think of this..."**

"**Mum...do you think it could be like Severus said? There really is a magic school. I want to go if he's going. I'd do really well I promise, he says they'd teach us how to use magic properly...."**

"**Yes...we'll have to wait and see what your father says. Help your sister set the table, we'll discuss it after dinner."**

"**Here's the letter." She handed her husband the letter Lily had received earlier. "Maybe we should send a letter back? Ask them for more information..It's rather confusing. We always knew she was special...but...I'd hate to send her away to a place I've never heard of.."**

"**I think you missed a paper in all of this...Did you read this one?" Mr. Evans handed it to his wife. "Says they're sending someone two days from now to explain things further. So well defiantly get answers. In all honesty, it would do more harm than good to hide it any longer. She has to go away for school now anyway. There aren't any good schools for a girl her age around here. Does she not want to go?"**

"**She does want to. She says her friend will be going as well. I don't know. Maybe we should just wait two days and see what this person has to say."**

"**I agree."**

"**Sev!" Lily found him reading by some bushes at the park. He usually was here after she left school, either because he knew she'd come by, or simply because he hated being in his house. "You were right! I got a letter." Lily was ecstatic. **

"**Why are you so surprised?" He smirked. "I told you they'd send you a letter when you turned eleven. Your too good at the magic you can do to not be.."**

"**Tuny won't be able to go though will she? Mum told her last night she couldn't, she was so upset."**

"**Its not a place for Muggles, just wizards and witches. If she's not able to do magic now, she won't be able to. Besides, they don't let people older than eleven in anyway, you have to know everything from the first and second year to move on.."**

"**I was looking forward to going to school with both of you...."**

"**We're both going. I'll be your friend when were there, with any luck we'll both get into Slytherin, that would be great."**

"**What's Slytherin?" She asked. Her book bag was on the ground in front of her and she was playing with a flower. **

"**When you go to Hogwarts your sorted into one of four houses. Slythren is the best one. There's Gryffindor, they're typically a bunch of idiots..." She eyed him curiously. "Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad, they're usually really bright. Hufflepuff is the worst. Its where the people who don't fit in with the other houses go."**

"**If I get into Hufflepuff will you still be my friend?" She asked shyly. **

"**Of course. I'll be your friend no matter what. But you won't get into Hufflepuff, you'll get a good house."**

"**Will it matter...being...well...not being from a wizarding family." She set the flower down apparently bored. **

"**Not to anyone important. There are always going to be some people who don't like muggle born witches or wizards, but I don't think it will be a problem for you. They probably won't even notice."**

**Lily smiled. "I'm glad you think so. Tell me more about Hogwarts, since I got my letter I need to know all about it. My parents don't seem to want me to go right now, they're waiting to talk to a representative from the school."**

"**They have to let you go you belong at Hogwarts."**

"**I can't go if they don't want me to. The representative is coming tomorrow night. Then I'll know for sure. But please tell me more about Hogwarts."**

"**It's a big castle, away from everyone else for the most part. There's a wizarding village near by, all wizards..We'll get to go there in our third year. Mum said there are big staircases that move. Loads of ghosts live in the castle..."**

"**Ghosts? Mean ghosts?" She replied a little alarmed.**

"**Well, I doubt they'd hurt students. So they're probably not mean." She relaxed, he smiled.**

"**What type of classes would we take?"**

"**Magic, all sorts of magic. Transfiguration, you know making objects change into something else. Charms and spells of course. Potions, History at the beginning I bet...Astronomy, Astronomy is important to Wizards. Loads really, It'll be great, you'll get to go. The representative will do a great job explaining it, you'll see." He continued smiling as he spoke.**

"**Yeah, your right." She smiled back. "They have to do it loads of times a year. Every time someone with non wizarding parents goes there."**

**He nodded. "They'll send the best person. Maybe they'll give you something, like a book so you know more than I do about Hogwarts. Then you'd fit in better, all the stuff I told you and whatever they tell you."**

"**We'll know soon. I'll tell you all about it the next time I see you." She looked down at her watch. "I have to get home and start my homework...Sev...you don't go to school do you?"**

"**I'm home schooled. Most wizarding families home school their children until they get into Hogwarts." **

**She stood up and took her bad from the ground. He seemed a little down and started to read his book again. "I'll see you tomorrow. You'll be here right?"**

"**Where else would I be?" He raised an eyebrow.**

"**Well...home I'd imagine. I'll tell you all about it Thursday. I promise."**

"**Home...home isn't very pleasant. Here it's much better..." He smiled at her. "I'll be here every day around this time. Don't worry."**

"**Bye Sev." He smiled.**

"**Bye Lily." When he lost sight of her his smile faded and he went back to his book.**

"**Tuny, you can't still be mad it's not my fault!" Lily looked over the table at her sister who was home for a break. **

"**Mum and Dad won't let you." She replied viciously. **

"**You don't know that! They said they'd make there decision tonight..As soon as they talk..."**

"**They aren't going to let you go to that freak school. You can go tell your stupid friend he's going alone." She crossed her arms and glared at her younger sister.**

"**They will! That's a horrible thing to say...why are you saying such awful things?" Lily asked. **

"**You don't know anything do you? Your little friend could be lying, they could just lock you up until you can't do any of that stuff anymore."**

"**That's not how it works, and he wouldn't lie to me! Your just jealous I'm going and your not." She replied sharply.**

"**Why would I be jealous of you?" Petunia replied firmly. "You or that creepy Snape kid."**

"**Leave him alone!"**

"**Did you girls start your homework yet?" Mrs. Evans asked from the doorway the commotion startled her.**

"**Yes Mum." They both replied. Lily looked a bit hurt as she packed her books back in her bag.**

"**You know we have a guest coming tonight." She replied promptly.**

"**Mum, do you think the school is a bad place?" Lily asked Petunia smirked.**

"**Well, I doubt it would be. But then again I know nothing about it. I promise, after tonight we'll talk about if you can go or not." She replied fondly. "Why don't you and your sister set the table? Your father will be home soon."**

"**Tuny.." Lily started she took the plates from her sister and set them in their place. "Please don't say Hogwarts or magic is freakish…"**

"**It is." She snapped.**

"**It is not!"**

"**That Snape kid is a freak. He's never at his house, he likely lives at the part with how dirty and greasy he looks."**

"**It's not his fault he doesn't like his house." Lily retorted Petunia scoffed.**

"**I don't like him.**

"**I don't care. He's still my friend." She crossed her arms and gave her sister a look that clearly made her feel if she continued, she'd regret it.**

**There was a knock on the door, Lily and Petunia were sitting at the newly cleaned table, working on their homework. They both looked startled. They heard the footsteps of their mother, followed by voices in the hallway, introductions, more than likely of the representative and her parents. They both peaked out, Petunia hid behind Lily, thinking she'd be safer that way. Lily really did wonder if she'd be allowed to ask questions. Maybe the representative was more for her parents. In that case she probably wouldn't be allowed to, it would be just like the parties they'd have when they'd be sent to a sitter. Of course what would she say if she were allowed to talk to the representative? What if the representative had to test her to make sure she could use magic? She'd be so nervous she was sure she'd never be able to go, then she couldn't go to school with Severus. **

"**Lily could you come her for a moment." Her mother called suddenly. Curiously, Lily walked into the room, excited but frightened. **

"**This is Professor McGonagal. She's the Transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts."**

"**Good evening Professor." Lily replied softly still much too nervous for her liking.**

"**Lily you can sit down." Her mother replied instantly. She sat between her parents on the sofa and looked at the Professor still much too nervous for her liking.**

"**Naturally you have many questions for me but before we start I have this paper to give you." She gave them a paper Lily glanced at it briefly, it was a bunch of numbers. "That is about how much it would cost for her schooling if you wish to send her. Our Muggle Studies teacher did the calculations."**

"**That's really quite affordable." She nodded and handed it to her husband. "We're still fascinated that there is a magic school."**

"**Our education goes on for seven years. Of course she would not be forced to stay in the school over Christmas holiday. Not to mention the months where she would have a summer break."**

"**They would both be home around the same time." Her father reasoned.**

"**Where exactly is Hogwarts?" Her mother asked, Petunia was still hiding in the doorway. **

"**Further north, it's well protected." Her parents looked at each other, taken aback. "If she became a student, she isn't allowed to use magic outside of school."**

"**We don't let her use magic anyway. Ever since she started using it we've been using caution." Her mother replied.**

**Lily watched the professor, there was so much more she wanted to ask. So many questions, she wanted to go now and see what the school, looked like and what classes were like.**

"**Naturally Lily is full of questions." Professor Mcgonagal replied with a smile at her.**

"**My friend said that we'll be sorted into houses. What exactly does that mean?" She asked. **

"**They're like different dorms. But when your at Hogwarts you earn or lose points based on behavior. Most of the friends you'll make will likely be members of your house." **

"**Which one is the best?"**

**Professor McGonagal smiled. "I'm partial to Gryffindor myself. Being it's head and all." She sipped her tea and smiled. Lily smiled back.**

"**The sorting goes by your personality. Great witches and wizards have come from all four houses. They just very with personality. I think you'll do well regardless of what house your sorted into."**

"**What's Transfiguration like?"**

"**It's very difficult. But if you put the time and effort into it, its very rewarding." **

"**Is everything hard?"**

"**It gets easier, as you get better. But it won't be easy."**

"**Will it be hard for her, since she's not from a wizarding family?" Mr Evans asked abruptly. **

"**No, we've had many muggleborn students that did wonderful. There are always people the are prejudice, but it won't affect her grades."**

"**I don't see any reason why she shouldn't go." Mr. Evans replied. **

"**I can go to Hogwarts?"**

"**I don't see why not. We'd have to send you to another school anyway. We might as well make it one where you can use your talent." Her mother responded. "It's very different, having a witch in the family."**

"**So what happened? Are your parents letting you go?" Severus asked after Lily finished the rant about how the representative was.**

"**Yes! I have my train ticket and everything. Well, not the books and school stuff but I have the list." She smiled brightly.**

"**Looks like we'll be going to school together then." he smiled. "I have my ticket and list too."**

"**I hope we get into the same house." Lily jumped off the swing next to him and spun around to face him.**

"**That would be great. We'd always be in the same classes. If we were in different house would we still be in the same classes?" She asked after she climbed back into the swing and started again.**

"**Yeah, my mum said we have classes with all the houses at different times. So we'd still have a class or two together, it would just be better if we were in the same house." Lily was beaming with pride as she swung and seem to not be paying him the slightest bit of attention. **

"**We could do homework together, and study. Of course I'll need your help ever so much when we get there. I'll be so horribly confused."**

"**You'll do great."**

"**Or so you say. My parents want to take me to Diagon alley before summer starts. Then I'll have all my books and can read. The head start may help me not stick out like a sore thumb. You should come with us! You have to get books and things too."**

"**I think my mum just wants me to use hers." He replied bitterly. "Dad doesn't like magic."**

"**It's a shame he doesn't. My parents are as excited as I am to go."**

"**Well your luckier than most. I doubt many muggleborn witches and wizards have parents like yours."**

**The rest of the school year felt like forever to Lily. She couldn't wait until she went to Hogwarts., it was really hard not to tell the friends she had where she was going. Her parents told her to only say her school was up North, and she would be home for Christmas and Summer. She understood why, Petunia seemed to be more and more angry with her as the days grew nearer. Severus and Lily found a letter from the head master of Hogwarts shortly after Lily received her letter. Petunia seemed to loath him more after it. So Lily tried to spend more time outside of the house with him, which only seemed to make matters worse with her sister. **

"**Next week were going to Diagon alley." Lily said she was swinging next to Severus. "We're going right after we visit our Aunt, she lives in London, so, they think its best to go then instead of waiting. I'm not allowed to talk about it though, my mum said she might react badly."**

"**I can understand that. My Dad was furious when I first started doing magic. It was even worse when I got my letter…"**

"**Why would he be so upset? Even if he doesn't like magic he should still be glad you get to go to a good school." Lily jumped from the swing when it reached as high as it could go. "You don't think they'll send Dementors here do you?"**

"**No, they won't send them to get you at all. They only get really bad people. But you still shouldn't use magic.."**

"**I didn't. I wanted to…but I didn't. I want to be a good student and to do that I can't use magic when I'm out of school. You think I could be a prefect?"**

"**Defiantly. I'll be one too. Maybe we'll even be head boy and girl together in our last year."**

"**What do you do if you are?" She started to swing again after brushing some dirt off her sundress.**

"**The same sort of thing a prefect does. Only you have to be the best in the year. There's only one of each." Severus stopped swinging and watched Lily.**

" **I don't know if I'll ever be that good. I wish I could."**

"**You'll do great. You remember everything I've been telling you about magic. You're far from lost…"**

"**But that doesn't make me amazing." She glanced over at him, starting to swing slowly. **

"**But you're an amazing person. The rest will come to you. If you ever need help at potions I'll be able to help for sure. I've been practicing with my Mum."**

"**I want to make potions too…I don't think my mum would let me though, I wouldn't know what to do myself anyway…so I guess there's no point really."**

"**We can practice at school. I'll teach you everything I know."**

"**Could you bring a daily prophet tomorrow? I want to see what it says. I feel like I'm a millennium behind…" **

"**Sure, my Mum won't miss it. You mind if its an old one? Like today's, I don't think she'd let me take a new one unless she finished it."**

"**Of course not, and would be wonderful. I just want to see one, read some articles, learn more about the Wizarding world."**

"**A lot of it's boring. You'd be better off reading the textbooks."**

"**But they won't have real events. Everyone else will know what's going on except me. I'll stand out like a sore thumb."**

"**Trust me, you won't be as clueless as you think you are. Lots of people aren't going to be reading newspapers. Is your sister still being mean?" **

"**In her own way, sometimes she's not that bad. Others she'll just be sharp or call me a freak." **

"**You're not a freak, and I bet you'll make a fantastic witch." he smiled lightly at her, she seemed down.**

"**I hope so. So what exactly is Quiddich again? I'm not sure I understand how it works.."**

"**It's easier to understand when you see it." he replied nervously.**

"**How about when we get to school we go to one together?" she got off the swing.**

"**Sounds great." he smiled.**

"**I don't want to go back yet." Lily looked at her watch, it was nearly six. "I have to though, sorry Sev, I'll see you tomorrow?" **

"**Of course I'll be waiting." he looked a bit down after she left the playground.**

**The rest of the week felt like forever, it went by so slowly. Lily couldn't wait to go to Diagon alley, she read as many of the daily prophets as Severus could bring to her. She even made sure to write down anything she didn't know so Severus could tell her about it the next time they met. By the end of the week, her notebook was almost full of possibly useful phrases and terms for Hogwarts. Tomorrow, she was going to go to go to Diagon alley, while she enjoyed easter with her Aunt, she couldn't talk about any of the things she was gaining interest in. She felt completely alone, she wanted to talk to Severus everyday like when she was in school. But being at her Aunts did have it's perks, Petunia was being very civil. They played quite a few games with each other and she seemed for at least this point in time to not want to call her a freak.**

"**The letter said to ask Tom, in the Leaky Caldron how to get into Diagon Alley." Lily said a new skip in her step.**

"**What an odd name for a place." Petunia replied. **

"**I hope everyone is patient with us." Mrs. Evans replied. **

"**Mum can I get a cat?" Lily asked. She turned her attention away from the car window. "Please? I can take it to Hogwarts with me. The letter said…"**

"**All animals are filthy." Petunia replied with a scowl. **

"**Lily, we've already said no. I'm sorry but it would probably be too expensive, we'd have to take it back in the car, for the hours it would take us to go home. There is also the matter of Petunia not feeling comfortable with one…."**

**Lily ignored the rest of the reasons and looked back out the window. They were just about there, and she didn't want to miss anything.**

**Lily was thrilled to get her wand she now twirled around between her fingers. Petunia eyed her nervously.**

"**Look! There are so may animals." Lily stared into the window. "Can we go inside?"**

**Petunia backed away. "I'm not going in."**

"**Lily, you can go ahead. We'll just wait out here." Mr. Evans replied.**

**Lily walked into the store. She glanced around. There were cats, owls, rats, toads and a number of other animals. She instantly went to where the cats were. She played with one of the kittens for a few minuets before turning her attention to the owls. She had to admit, they were all so beautiful. When she turned to leave she noticed a boy, about her age standing where she was only moments before. His clothes looked shabby, in a way he reminded her of Severus.**

"**Hi." She said with a wave in his direction. He looked back at her a bit bewildered. He must not have many friends. "Are you going to Hogwarts too?" There was no sense in trying to not talk about it, if he were her age, she might even make a friend.**

"**Yes…" The tone of his voice was shaky. Like he hadn't spoken to anyone new in a long while.**

"**What's your name? Mine is Lily. Lily Evans."**

**The boy now smiled lightly, seeming to relax. "My name's Remus, Remus Lupin."**

**Lily smiled. "I have to go. My parents are outside. Let's be friends at Hogwarts okay?"**

"**Okay." He nodded and seemed to be in a better mood. The door closed behind her and she heard her father say, "Shall we head home? You have all your things, and it's getting late."**

**She could barely sleep that night. She had so many things she was bursting to say to Severus. It was a shame she had school the next day or she'd head to the park right away. She really did at times wonder exactly where Severus lived, he never asked her over, he always just came to their house. She couldn't wait to start studying magic. She had a book open on the floor next to her bed, there was a bookmark about twenty pages in, her notebook grew larger with words she'd have to have Severus define for her. It was almost midnight before she fell asleep. **

"**Sev, I'm worried about Hogwarts." Lily admitted shyly. She had a textbook in hand, they had been preparing for classes since June. **

"**Why? You'll do great."**

"**What if we get sorted into different houses?"**

"**We'll still be friends. You've really been doing great." She gave him a skeptical look. "Come on, well actually be able to practice spells once we're there. But you know so much already. You memorized all the important tricks from the potions book."**

"**What if no one likes me?"**

**Severus raised an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't they like you? Your just…" He blushed a little, she didn't notice.**

"**I hope the sorting isn't hard…"**

"**It won't be, they wouldn't be impossible. Which classes are you looking foreword to the most?"**

**Lily smiled. "I can't wait to get there. Anything magical is new to me. It's going to be challenging, but I can't wait."**

"**Just don't tell anyone your Muggleborn." He said importantly. "They won't notice unless you tell them."**

**She didn't really understand what they meant until it was far too late to do anything about it. The way he warned her so many times before they went to the school should have been a dead give away it was taboo. But when your Eleven, you've just discovered your going to a place that's like a new world in comparison to what your accustomed to, you don't exactly have the time or patients to translate the headlines into a manner of understanding them. They articles themselves weren't too large, the Death Eaters hadn't taken too many lives, yet, it's amazing how much something could change in a year. Amazing still, how much could change in seven.**


	2. Starting School

Chapter Two: Starting School

Tomorrow she'd be on the train to her new school. Where she would be living until a break. It would be a lie to say she wasn't excited, but she couldn't help but feel a little bit lonely at the thought of leaving everything familiar behind.

"Why were you with him?" Petunia asked sharply. "I told you he's no good. You can tell by looking at him. When you get to school you'll realize…"

"He's my friend, he's a good friend Tuney." she replied after taking a seat next to her sister. She looked over at the television, which she doubted she'd miss much once she really was a witch.

"I think you'll be able to find better friends than him. What were you doing anyway?" She asked curiously.

"Nothing really…just studying our textbooks." Lily twirled her wand absent mindedly.

"I'll tell mum if you do something with that!"

"I'm not going to do anything." She stopped and looked at her sister. "Why don't you like magic? It's so useful, one of my school books has a potion in it that works better than cold medicine. I can't wait to start."

"If it's so useful why can't everyone learn how to do it? Why can't you use it all the time? Why are Wizards so secretive?"

"I don't know. Maybe because they don't want to solve everyone's problems and I don't know why I can do this stuff…It just happened…I really, really wish you were going too…"

"Me too. Your going to tell me what it's like right? " Petunia asked with a hopeful glance at her sister.

"Of course! I'll tell you loads about it." She replied promptly. Petunia smiled, any argument she had with Lily being a witch seemed to fade away. Which was an encouraging sign to Lily. "If you want, after dinner I can show you my things, I'll tell you everything I know."

Dinner seemed to be much more cheerful than Lily had imagined. Everyone seemed excited. Even Petunia, who Lily thought would never forgive her for being a witch. It made her a little sad. Her mother kept insisting her sister was jealous, and didn't really mean what she said. Lily found it much more believable now than she did the past few weeks. Even when Lily told Petunia about her books, and her subjects Petunia seemed at least appreciative of learning things, although she got things mixed up quite a lot.

"What were those things again? The ones that Snape boy was talking about….Demongers…"

"Dementors?" Lily asked.

"Yes! Those, what do they look like?" She asked.

"He just said they're black, they look like black hooded things…" Lily yawned and shut her Defense Against the Dark Arts book. "I'm going to bed Tuney. Good night.

"How is it we've been on the train what…ten minuets and we've already found bullies. Can you believe them?!?" She asked Severus who was walking along side of her. Her first encounter with Wizards seemed to prove disastrous.

"He was so full of himself. Both of them were. Don't worry Lily, not everyone's like that. Most of us are decent."

She stopped at another empty compartment. "Is here good?"

"Yeah, anywhere else is great." Severus followed her in the door. They sat next to each other and she took another peak out of the window.

"Hopefully no idiots will find this compartment." Lily replied nonchalantly. "Why by train Sev? Wouldn't it be more wizard like to do something else?"

"I think it's so we interact more, and I guess Muggle trains would make us appreciate apparation when we can do it."

"What's apparation?" She replied curiously.

"It's kind of, well. It's when you disappear form one place and reappear where you want to. Really advanced, hard magic."

"I can't wait for classes." She turned her head because of the noises she heard come from the door. A brown haired girl who looked her age looked in and smiled.

"Do you mind if I sit in here? Everywhere else is full."

Lily smiled and replied instantly. "Sure."

She took a seat next to Lily and smiled. Severus looked at her curiously.

"My name's Mary." She said simply.

"I'm Lily." She smiled and glanced at Severus since he was silent. He picked up a textbook and started looking over a few chapters. "Are you in your first year too?"

She nodded and glanced out the window. "It's exciting. I didn't think it really existed. Not that I can do anything spectacular."

"I was surprised too." She smiled at Severus. "Until Severus told me about magic. Now I'm just excited."

Lily suddenly felt much more confident. She now was sorted into her house, her friend Mary and one of the rowdy boys from the compartment were in her house. She was hoping Severus would get into her house and was saving him a seat. When the sorting house shouted Slytherin she sighed sadly. At least she'd be able to see him in classes. She looked over at Remus, the boy she met in Diagon Alley and smiled. She waved at him, he waved back.

"Sorry about that fuss on the train." She turned to see who the voice came from and frowned. The black haired boy from the train and his friend were both looking at her a bit apologetically. "You see I just loath the Dark Arts and, well, Slytherins where the whole lot of Dark Wizards go."

The other boy nodded. "You know who was in Slytherin. All hate Muggleborns…"

"Severus doesn't care about that at all." She replied sharply.

"Well if Snivillus doesn't care he's a very rare exception."

"Too true, too true." The black haired boy replied.

"What's it matter to you?" She glared at them. "So he's in a bad house, your rude, at least he doesn't have an attitude problem."

"I apologized!" The black haired boy replied "We thought you'd be in Slytherin too. But if your in our house, we should be friends. I'm James, James Potter." He gave her sort of a goofy grin, almost as if he were expecting her to be impressed.

"I'm Lily, Lily Evans."

"I'm Sirius, Sirius Black." The other boy replied.

She smiled a little, he must be from a wizarding family. Such odd names, well, odd for her. They were likely normal for them. He noticed her sudden smile and glared.

"What's wrong with my name Evans?" He grinned playfully. "You're a flower. I'm named after someone in my family, who was named after what, a star or something. James? Well that's not normal."

"So? My names adorable. Yours isn't." She replied.

"It's an old Wizarding family name. Can't wait to tell them I'm not in Slytherin."

"Why exactly does it matter what house you're in?"

James eyed her curiously. "It doesn't matter really, the sorting's just supposed to put you in a house that's suited to how you already are." Sirius yawned. "Were in Gryffindor, because were brave, courageous, and well, just great people. Ravenclaw is for the smart ones, Hufflepuff, they're usually nice and stuff, and Slytherin, well, you know."

"The You know who followers, obsessed with the thought of pure bloods ruling everything, make me sick." Sirius piped in.

"So it matters? Being from a Wizarding Family?" She replied half heartedly pushing some peas with her fork.

"Nah," James replied. "Well maybe to some people but not in this house. But if you're good no one will even notice. Why? You Muggleborn?"

"No" She replied quickly.

A smile played on his face. "Just like asking questions then? I don't mind, really I don't. What's your Quiddich team?"

Lily stared blankly at him. Quiddich…he never did explain that… "Um…well…I.." She blushed apparently embarrassed.

"Evans your cute. Real cute." Sirius replied. "We won't tell anyone. Unless you want us to."

"Not all girls like Quiddich, leave her alone." Remus said he changed his seat to the one next to her.

"True…" James replied. " I do want to meet someone Muggleborn." he drank some of his Pumpkin juice. "Dad doesn't know much about them."

"Good for you." Lily replied. She brushed some hair out of her eyes.

James stared at her, as did Sirius, she blushed a little and went back to her meal.

Lily stirred her potion vigorously. Severus, who was in the seat next to her, skimmed down the ingredients and nodded, apparently satisfied with his potion. Lily looked over and they shared a friendly smile. The table to her left, where James and Sirius sat wasn't having such luck with the potion today. In fact, James was trying, and failing miserably to stop the flames from coming out of his caldron.

"Now what did we do wrong?" Professor Slughorn eyed him. "Did you add the turnips?"

"Yes Professor," he replied. Sirius was snickering. "It's just, Sirius may have added some exploding snap cards to it when I was chopping my gillyroot sir." The class laughed, Lily gave Severus an odd look, he shrugged.

"Take your schoolwork more seriously boys." He replied and strolled over to where Lily and Severus were. He looked over at her potion and beamed.

"Miss Evans' potion turned the perfect shade of purple. IT looks wonderful, wonderful." He nodded and looked at Severus and gave him a nod showing his approval. "Just what I'd expect, both perfect." He frowned when he passed the next table. He was eyeing a tar like substance bubbling over. "Try turning the heat down, and add some water….It….might help…"

"You must be embarrassed to be in their house." Severus said. "That's the fourth time they've done that this week, and we only have potions three times a week."

"That's nothing compared to what they do in the common room. McGonagal already gave them a weeks detention."

"For what?"

"In astronomy Potter decided to torment this poor Hufflepuff, and well it ended in him using a spell that made him hang from the Astronomy tower for a few hours. Apparently that's when Black's silencing charm wore off."

"What idiots…."Severus grumbled as he was corking his potion. "Why are they popular?"

"No idea." She replied, apparently bored.

"PSTT! Evans!" Sirius called. She turned to him with a curious look. "How about you lend me some of your potion?"

Severus glared at him, Lily sighed. "No way, next time, make the potion without bothering Potter, you'll likely do better." James smirked at her. Lily promptly turned away and went back to talking to Severus.

"I feel so bad for Remus and Petegrew, they're sharing a room. Remus was in the common room a lot this week… hope they're not bullying him."

"I doubt he'd let them. Probably tell Professor McGonagal…" He started putting his books away.

"I don't know...He hasn't been complaining. He's just been ignoring them."

"Don't worry about it then." He picked up his bag and went to hand in his assignment. James however shot a yellow spell from his wand that changed his vile of potion into a daffodil. He and Sirius roared in laughter, the rest of the class soon followed.

"Now boys, I wouldn't want to add to your detention but using spells in class without permission is against the rules." Professor Slughorn said politely after changing the potion back. "Five points from Gryffindor."

Lily groaned. Why bother earning points when Potter took them away moments later? She started to clean up her potion, Professor Slughorn collected her vile of potion, and when she had her books in her bag she set off for the door. She left, giving Sirius and James a look of pure annoyance.

"What's it like to be perfect Evans?" Sirius asked. She blushed, taken aback by the question. James yawned, apparently bored from his seat next to him.

"Leave me alone Black." She replied sternly.

"Isn't it boring? Being Prefect? Snivillus can't be much fun either. If you want.." She promptly glared then turned away and left the classroom. When she got outside the door she looked for where Severus was waiting.

"Can you believe him?!" She said throwing her hands in the air. "Did you hear what he said to me?"

Severus shook his head. "No, what did he say?"

"HE asked me what it's like to be perfect." She groaned. "Potter asked me yesterday if I wanted to be a Marauder yesterday. Whatever that means. I told him he must be mental if he thinks I'll be his friend."

Severus shook his head. They needed to part ways, she regretted having no one to talk to the rest of the way to the common room. She smiled and waved as he entered the Slytherin common room, then continued to walk to Gryffindor tower.

"Thank you ever so much Remus!" She hugged him tightly. "My essay was a disaster! After your help it got an O. Your wonderful."

"Not a problem." Remus smiled.. He sat next to her when Severus couldn't. Transfiguration was always with Hufflepuff, Herbology with Ravenclaw, but in potions she always sat with Severus.

James and Sirius sat to his left, they apparently became friends some how. Lily highly doubted she'd ever know.

"Why is it that they only pester me in potions?" She asked when the class let out. Remus shrugged.

"Maybe they want to try and impress you? Although, I find it hard to believe stealing your potion would bode well for them."

They laughed. She waved to Severus when she saw him, he was finishing a conversation with Lucius Malfoy. He joined them shortly after.

"Morning." He said more to Lily than to Remus. "Transfiguration go well?"

Lily nodded. Remus slowed down to catch up with James and Sirius. "It went well. Really well, Remus helped me finish my last essay. I got an O."

"Great…" He replied sounding a bit unenthusiastic. They entered Professor Slughorn's classroom. "Hey, you haven't told him your…Muggleborn…have you?"

"No, just Mary. She is too so, I figured it was fine." She replied in a casual tone. She opened her book and relaxed in her seat. "Why does it matter if I do? He's a good person."

"He's friends with the two most untrustworthy people. What if it slips?" he asked.

"So what if it does? I'm not ashamed. I'm much better than average and I'm working hard at this stuff."

He nodded, she stopped talking suddenly since Professor Slughorn came into the room. He handed out a few sheets of parchment, to James, Sirius, Lily and Severus. She stared at it blankly. Severus however had a vague idea of what it was.

"What is this?" She whispered to Severus, apparently afraid she was in trouble. Professor Slughorn started to write the instructions for this class period on the board.

"I'm as clueless as you are." he replied without thinking, "Wait…Lucius was telling me he likes to have parties, maybe it's an invitation? He only invites people he finds talented…"

"You think so?" She asked. "That's kind of flattering…" She put the invitation in her bag and started copying the notes down from the board. He soon followed.

"If you want we can go together." He said suddenly. "You know, so you're not alone with those gits.."

She smiled. "Sure Sev. That sounds great."

Suddenly he felt happier than he ever did before. He barely paid attention for the rest of class. He felt like he was floating. Until a bit of parchment hit him in the back of the head. He glared at the table directly behind them where James and Sirius sat. James smirked.

"All Right Sev?" She asked, class was pretty much over. He looked at her, trying to hide the anger he felt toward James at that moment.

"I'm fine, Potter just…" He stopped. Lily looked at him a bit confused, they both left him alone the whole class period. "It's nothing…He's just a git."

She took the parchment out of her bag and untied the ribbon. They started down the hall, a few strides away from Sirius and James. "It's tomorrow, right after dinner…Do you want to just go from there?"

He smiled. "Sure, that sounds great."

The next day went by extremely slow, Lily woke up to screaming in the common room. After bolting out of bed and downstairs to see what was wrong, she was extremely agitated to find that the Marauders let loose rats, snakes, and spiders on their common room. James and Sirius were roaring with laughter until Professor McGonagal come.

"But Professor, Gryffindors are supposed to be brave, we were just testing them really." James replied kindly, as if he didn't do anything wrong. Lily sighed and went back upstairs.

"What happened?" Mary asked.

"Potter and Black set Vermin in our common room. Professor McGonagal is yelling at them as we speak."

"Why must they do such stupid things so early?" Mary yawned.

"It's almost time for breakfast. Maybe you should get out of bed?"

"I will….when my alarm goes off again."

Lily sighed. She changed, put her hair up and went back downstairs with her bag.

"I didn't think it was necessary for another week of detention Remus." Sirius replied. They were sitting at one of the tables.

"Yes, I know, you expected her to congratulate you on a job well done." Remus didn't look up from his book. "A five year old could have done better."

"You plan something then." James replied sharply, not taking well to being insulted. "If you're so clever and amazing at that stuff than go ahead. We're up to any challenge, no matter how risky." He smirked at Sirius. "Right mate?"

"It's what Marauders do." He smiled back at James hugely. Lily scoffed. "Morning Evans! Fancy a pet? We'll let you keep a rat McGonagal took the other animals already." He was apparently gauging her reaction when he held up a rat. Lily looked at him like he was insane.

"No thank you. How did you come up with that ridiculous name for yourselves? Nick a dictionary and just find it or what?"

"I thought it was clever." James replied.

"I bet you did. At least your not calling yourselves the mischief trio or something ridiculous like that."

"We'd have to keep changing the name if we found others who were worthy enough of the title." Sirius said importantly.

"Worthy?" Lily laughed. "Worthy…."She continued giggling as she left the common room.

"Reckon she's mental?" Sirius asked.

"No. I think she thinks you're an idiot." Remus said cheerily.

Classes moved slow as well, but she had great confidence in Potions and it showed today. Professor Slughorn beamed when he was her newest potion.

"Brilliant! Brilliant. Adding sage, very clever. Nulls the side affects, makes the drinker much more focused, less sleepy." Lily smiled. "You must come from a long line of potioneers. Take ten points my dear, well earned, very well earned." He nodded and walked right past Severus' potion who's was just as good as hers as far as she was concerned.

"How'd you think that up?" He asked.

"Potions is just like cooking…I've always watched my mum cook. Just thought up a strong spice to add…."She replied a bit embarrassed.

Severus shrugged. "At least he doesn't think your muggleborn." He replied adding a note to the margin of his book. "Your doing so well everyone thinks you're from a wizarding family."

"What's a mud blood?" Lily asked his whole body tensed when she said the word.

"Did someone call you a mud blood?" She'd never heard him use that tone of voice, it was almost vicious.

"No. Someone called Mary a mud blood….I just assumed it was an insult."

"A pretty big one.." he replied.

"I know...I guess that's why you don't want anyone to know about me being muggleborn, but I can't hide it for seven years Sev, someone would be bond to figure it out anyway. And why on earth, would I need to hide who I am? It doesn't change a thing."

"I know it doesn't. It's just…you'll get in loads of arguments with Slytherins, and…" he stopped she smiled at him her green eyes glittered.

"The only Slytherin I care about is you. If they're idiots I don't care, as long as your still my friend." She put the cork on her vile.

"You know we're friends. No matter what, you're the best friend anyone could ask for." He smiled.

She smiled back brightly. He looked a bit embarrassed and looked down at his potion again, cheeks pink.

"We're still going to the meeting together right?" she replied suddenly. He glanced up spilling a bit of his potion because he wasn't playing attention.

"Yeah, I'll wait outside the great hall for you." He corked a vile and glanced back to see if James and Sirius were going to pull another prank on him. They apparently had left.

"I'll see you then." She handed Professor Slughorn the vile and strolled to the door. Severus smiled and followed shortly after. He only got as far as the great hall before he found where James and Sirius went. He was suddenly splashed with cold water.

"Aww! James, bad luck we only got Snivillus! I guess that's not a bad thing, maybe we should get a bar of soap. It'll make great improvements."

They both laughed, Severus stormed away, now furious. When they realized he left they followed, he was heading up to Transfiguration, his next class.

"Where ya going Snivillus? Your going to turn in soaked assignments? James smirked.

"It'd be loads better than anything you hand in I'm sure." Sirius spat back at him.

"I guess the water would be an improvement over the grease. How is it that you're so disgusting? You half troll or something?" Sirius asked him and James laughed.

"I assume you two would be half mule if I'm half troll, other half, rubbish…then it would explain for you rotten personality and stubborn idiocy." Severus replied with a glare.

"I think he just tried to insult us mate." James said as he pulled his wand out.

Severus replied without thinking, "You can think? There's a surprise."

" Don't insult my best mate!" Sirius shot a hex at him that barely missed his head James soon followed suit and pink bubbles came out of his mouth.

"What are you three doing?" asked the stern voice of Professor McGonagal. She lifted the hex on Severus.

"…Err…Professor…we were just…"James looked at Sirius for support. He shrugged.

"Detention tomorrow night all three of you." She replied. "We'll add an extra night to your detentions, surely you won't notice." Severus smirked lightly.

"But Professor.." he replied a bit annoyed. "They started everything. I was just…"

"Causing a racket outside of my classroom door." She waved her wand drying him and his possessions off, then turned back to James and Sirius. "Make that double detention for you two. Using spells between classes. Honestly Potter, if you want to be on Gryffindor's Quiddich team you need to grow up." She stormed back into the classroom and slammed the door.

James groaned and messed up his hair. Sirius glared at Severus, as if he were to go back to what they started.

"We'll continue this later Snivillus. Don't think we'll forgive you for getting us into detention." Sirius replied as he followed James, who was heading back to the common room.

That night Severus hurried to eat dinner because one, he was still furious about getting a detention because of James Potter, and second, he couldn't wait to tell Lily she'd join in his frustration. Thirdly, and most importantly, they were going together. That was almost good enough to make him happy, except for the fact he had no sooner entered the great hall than James in a very annoying fashion, was telling Remus and Peter about how unfair it was that he got detention. If only he were outside, then she wouldn't have cared. He walked past the Gryffindor grudgingly, hoping not to be noticed.

"Oi Snivillus! Why'd Professor Slughorn invite you? You don't have any real talent." Sirius called mockingly. Severus glared at him.

"Unless the grease is the key to making his potions so well, I don't understand why he's been invited either." James piped in.

"Do you two ever stop?" Lily asked furiously. She sat across from Remus and next to a few of her other Gryffindor friends. "Leave him alone. Didn't you learn anything from Professor McGonagal giving you all those detentions?"

"Nope!" Sirius replied cheerfully. James smirked from the seat next to him.

"Lighten up Evans. He's in Slytherin, it's alright…"

"It is not all right to bully someone for no reason!" She crossed her arms and glared.

"Okay, I'm sorry Evans, calm down, it was just a joke." James replied in defense. He ran a hand through his hair coolly, she sighed.

"You two are going aren't you?" Lily sighed. James nodded and Sirius shrugged. Lily got up and went to leave.

"Professor Slughorn likes my dad, if I don't go he'll send me a howler." James said simply, Sirius roared with laughter.

Lily gave him an odd look before leaving the great hall. Severus was standing outside the door reading a book he borrowed from the library on the Dark Arts. She tapped him on the shoulder and smiled. Once he realized it was Lily he smiled back and put his book away.

"Sev, what's a howler?" She asked.

"You're not going to get one, so why worry about it?" He asked taken a back. She gave him an odd look in return.

"Potter said he'd get one if he didn't go to the meeting."

Severus laughed. "It's this big red letter that just screams at you. Parents send it when their kids do something really wrong. I hope he gets one."

"His parents apparently don't care he's in detention more than class. He would have gotten one by now if they did." She smiled.

They walked the familiar route to the dungeons, Severus led the way, since he knew where Professor Slughorn's office was. He opened the door, they weren't the first ones there, but they seemed like by far the youngest, which made Lily nervous until he spoke.

"Lily! Severus! Glad you could come." he smiled at them. "Have a seat. We'll have introductions soon. Hopefully James and Sirius will be here soon. Severus noticed a few Slytherins he knew from Lucius Malfoy and was about to take a seat next to them, until Lily took a seat in one of the chairs close to the door. He sat next to her and they waited maybe about fifteen minuets before they heard someone in the hall.

"Blimey, no wonder all the Slytherins are so thick, I almost walked into the wall a dozen times, have to be thick to survive in the dungeons." James said to Sirius. When he opened the door there were quite a few giggles heard from the room.

"Evening boys, take a seat." Professor Slughorn greeted.

Lily whispered something to Severus, making him laugh before they started introductions. Lily couldn't help but wonder why she was there. A few of the attendants were prefects, most were pure bloods by how they talked. She honestly didn't know what to make of it. When Severus introduced himself she felt embarrassed. What should she say? Of course Severus knew what to say, he was a half blood, he learned loads from his mother. Where as Lily had no idea about the things they were talking about. She was Muggleborn and everyone in that room would soon find that out. She'd gone three months without anyone finding out. When Severus stopped talking she held back a heavy sigh. Professor Slughorn smiled politely at her.

"Miss Evans is my other outstanding potions student." He said promptly. "Although…I can't remember ever hearing of any other Evans…" he replied unimportantly. A few people, mostly Slytherin, were staring at her. She sipped some of the tea before speaking.

"I don't suppose you would. I'm the only witch there's been in my family." She replied nonchalantly. Severus frowned.

Professor Slughorn laughed lightly. "I see, I see, very surprising, I thought you came from a long line of potioneers. But no matter, very talented, very bright." He offered her a biscuit before turning his attention to James. Who seemed to go on and on about things she didn't understand. She eyed Severus curiously; he appeared to be staring at the ground in deep concentration.

"All right Sev?" She whispered.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why'd you say that? Now everyone knows, you should have lied, said your uncle or something were involved in potions and made a name up, now everyone will…"

"Now everyone will what?" she snapped. "Now people are going to call me a mud blood? I'm not going to lie, I'm proud of who I am why should I hide it?"

Severus was silent. Then he went back to staring at the ground. Lily sighed and looked over to Sirius who Professor Slughorn was talking to now.

"….Why you weren't in Slytherin I'll never know. Would have loved to have you in my house."

Sirius smirked. "Don't like the way green looks on me sir, guess the sorting hat took that into consideration and let me in Gryffindor."

Quite a few people laughed, Lily and Professor Slughorn included. Severus was still continuing to stare at the floor. Professor Slughorn now passed around a tray of teacakes.

After the meeting. Lily bid Severus goodbye before the crowd of Slytherins found him and went off to their common room. He gave her an apologetic look, they seemed to glare in her direction. Being Muggleborn apparently did matter. Sirius and James left the room next, James almost walking into her.

"All Right Evans?" he asked.

"…Yeah, I just.." She sighed and started off towards the common room. James followed, Sirius was close behind him.

"What happened? Snivillus giving you trouble because your Muggleborn?" He asked. She stopped and turned to look at him.

"No, he's not awful like you two." She started walking again, only this time a bit faster.

"I'm not going to give you a hard time because of it. Doesn't matter, your still amazingly brilliant. Only reason we'd have a problem is if you decided to follow you know who, but you can't seeing as your Muggleborn."

Sirius nodded in agreement at James statement. "Don't think he'd fancy a muggleborn Death Eater."

"What are you talking about?" She stopped so they could catch up, they were already on the second floor.

"Blimey! You really don't know? I thought for sure you'd be like Remus and get the paper every morning." James replied. "You know who is the worst, most evil Dark Wizard ever. His followers are Death Eaters, they're pretty much all purebloods who want to…" He looked at her sadly.

"What." She looked annoyed. "If your going to tell me, tell me, don't start then stop." The portrait opened and they went into the common room.

"They loath Muggleborns. They want them all out of magic, so the purebloods can rule over everyone else." he looked down at the ground and scratched his head. "Not everyone's like that, my Dad was an auror for a long time. I know loads about that kind of stuff." He looked back up at her.

"So expect people to treat me like you treat anyone." She sat in a chair next to Remus.

"Eh…well…Slytherins might give you a hard time, but, if you want we can take care of them for you." Sirius replied. James smirked.

"Who are you pestering now?" Remus asked he shut his book and looked at the three of them.

"Remus won't care either Evans." James said simply.

"I know. He's known since I met him in Diagon Alley, that's part of the reason why he stopped you two when you were asking me all those questions our first night here."

James sat in the chair opposite her. "Why you so down? Didn't want Snivillus to know?" she shot him a glare. "I'm sorry! Really I am I'll be quiet…"

"Know any cute muggle girls who'd want to go out with me?" Sirius asked breaking the tension.

Lily laughed. "Your unbelievable." She continued giggling. "Why?"

"I'd love to tell my parents I started dating a muggle. They'd be furious, but it would be hysterical to see their reaction." He smirked at James.

"My parents wouldn't care. They'd only be furious if I married a Death Eater." James messed up his hair playfully. "What do you reckon your parents would do if they met some of your wizard friends?"

"They'd plague them with questions. They're thrilled I'm a witch…..my sister however…"

"Invite us over. We'll bounce teacups off her head if she gives us trouble." Sirius smirked. "Well, unless she's cute…"

Lily laughed. "You two are too much." she stood up. "Goodnight, see you in class." She headed back up to the girls dormitory. From that day foreword she found it incredibly difficult to not talk to James and Sirius. They still had their arguments, but they made things more interesting.

Author's note: I don't want to post these too close together, so its going to be a few days before I post Chapter Three. As always, thanks for reading, and possibly leaving a review.


	3. Potions Tutor

Chapter Three: Potions Tutor

Disclaimer: Characters do not belong to me

"Sev should it bother me I've been here almost a five months and I still get confused by the stairs?"

"I don't think so, they move all the time." Severus replied with a smile.

It was a typical weekday morning. Lily loved school. Some of her studies were getting more challenging but she still could make high marks. Of course it helped having friends that were good in certain subjects. Remus was great at everything, but his best subject was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Severus was amazing at potions, she didn't need much help in that class, but it was still great to have help. Lily happened to be gifted in Charms. She couldn't go wrong in that class. Astronomy, she didn't do horrible in, but there was room for improvement. History of Magic just bored her, the class Lily had the most trouble with was Transfiguration, she just couldn't understand it sometimes. The two friends continued on their way to potions.

"The homework last night was easy." Severus said. "I hope things get difficult soon."

"Challenging maybe, I don't think I'd do well if they were difficult." Lily replied.

"Professor Slughorn thinks you have a lot of potential." he countered.

Lily smiled. "I have potential I guess but I'm not going to be as good as you overnight."

"I'm not that good." he replied.

"You're the best in our year I'm sure."

"Do you think we'll be late?" Severus replied he looked a little bit embarrassed but pleased with himself.

"No way. We might be later but the Marauders hadn't left yet." Lily replied.

"Why do they call themselves that? They're idiots."

Lily stepped through the door, potions class was almost full. Of course the Marauders weren't there. The only Marauder that seemed to care about classes was Remus.

"Move Snivellus." Sirius said as he pushed Severus out of the way knocking him on the ground.

"Black you git you shouldn't be so mean to a fellow student!" Lily replied as she helped Severus back up.

"Sirius what did you do to Evans!?" James asked

"I didn't do anything to Evans, I accidentally may have been too forceful with Snivellus, but he was the git standing in the doorway."

"Some of us like to be on time to class." Lily replied.

"What do you think we were trying to do?! He was standing in the doorway staring at you like a love sick puppy."

"Sirius I thought I heard you bellowing down the hall." Remus said. "Is there a reason were not in our seats?"

"No." Sirius replied but James pulled him back.

"Apologize to Evans." James said sternly causing Sirius to look at him with much disbelief.

"For what? I didn't do anything to Evans."

By this point the whole class was quiet, Lily and Severus had sat in their seats. Remus and Peter were in theirs. The only two people yet to be seated were James and Sirius. Lily and Severus were in a heated discussion on how mean Sirius was when finally Sirius broke down and went over to the table.

"I'm sorry Evans." and then he stopped away towards where James was waiting for him.

"What was that about?" Lily asked Severus.

"I don't know." He replied.

Lily stared at him in disbelief. Sirius for most of the class was muttering complaints to James. As the class went on Slughorn complimented Lily for every correct answer she gave, both she and Severus made O potions, and Severus noticed James staring at Lily for most of the class while Sirius made a potion that looked like a mixture of concrete and mud. Every time Severus would catch James staring at Lily, James would look furious and make the potion bubble over, or set fire, or any other disastrous things. Severus took amusement in his failing potion grade. It was at the end of the class that things seemed to take a turn for the worst. Professor Slughorn made Lily and James stay after class. This didn't seem unusual, James would get a detention, he would praise Lily, but the tone he used today was completely different.

"I've already talked to Remus, and as I'm sure Mr. Potter knows, he's been assigned extra help in potions. As your both in Gryffindor and Lily is maintaining excellent marks in my class I think it would be wise that she helps you with your potions assignments, the end of the year is coming up shortly and I would like to think you've learned something in my class."

"But Sir." Lily replied a bit uncertain. "Certainly Remus would help him better than I could, they're already are friends and..."

"Now now Miss Evans." Professor Slughorn replied waving a finger. "It would be unfair of me to ask him to help both his friends considering the increase in your work load and his illness. Your both in the same house so it should be easy for you to find an hour or so a day to help him. It would just be until he raises his grade. And I'm sure you won't be put through too much trouble."

"I wouldn't mind working with Evans at all Professor." James replied with a smile.

"That's the spirit. What do you say Lily?"

"I suppose I can." Lily replied a bit irritated. "But I'm not doing his homework for him and I'm not changing my seat."

"Of course not. I don't expect you to. I would hope you didn't let other students copy your work."

"Can I leave now Professor?" James asked.

"Of course your free to go." he replied.

As soon as James was out the door Lily turned back to Professor Slughorn and asked. "Is it okay to hex him if he's arrogant or sharp while I'm trying to help him?"

"That is between you and Professor McGonagal, and I don't think Minerva would be pleased if she saw you hexing anyone, especially a fellow Gryffindor."

Lily was now in a bad mood. Luckily for her Severus stayed behind so she could have someone to rant to. "It's not fair Sev, so much for being Professor Slughorn's favorite. He paired me up with the worst person ever until 'he gets better at potions.' I just don't see that happening anytime soon. Did you see him? He looked so happy, he better not be expecting to copy my hard work. If he does I'll tell Professor Slughorn, I swear."

"Well maybe he'll ask for someone else to help him if you don't let him copy?" Severus replied in a bitter tone.

"Maybe...That would work nicely. I suppose I'll see you in an hour for Charms."

"Bye Lily."

"See you Sev."

"Aw man, why couldn't Slughorn give me Evans and you Remus? That would be so much more fun." Sirius asked.

"I kind of like Evans, she's pretty, she's smart, I think I can defiantly handle being with her for a few hours while struggling with potions. I see this working well." James replied.

"Both of you are idiots."

"Well, before Charms, this idiot is going to have a nice conversation with Evans. What's she think of me Remus?"

"She thinks your conceited, a bit un intelligent, and well, she just doesn't like you very much." Remus replied.

"Well, thanks for telling her all those wonderful things about me." James replied sarcastically.

"Not a problem. Want me to tell her your afraid of the dark and think monsters hide in the closet?"

"No thanks." James replied. "We'll be better friends soon. I feel that this, help in potions will be the start of a beautiful relationship."

"So, your basically studying with James? That's not so bad. You could be with Sirius. He'd try and get you to use exploding paper. Quills. Invisible ink, that would actually be more entertaining ask to switch."

"Are you mad! Potter is bad enough he's such a show off." She crossed her arms and groaned.

What's he going to do Lily? Show you his broomstick? Teach you Quiddich? He'll joke a little with you maybe. But it's really not going to kill you." she replied happily.

"Fine, fine, I guess I'll try before complaining."

"Yeah, that sounds good. Maybe you'll like him. He is kind a cute."

" He's so bloody arrogant!" Lily added as if it made everything else less important.

"And that's about all he does. He's not dangerous."

"Well, we need to go to Charms. Don't mention anything to anyone else about this." They walked down the stairwell, in the common room James was waiting. "Evans! How about we start tonight? You know, see how much I need help with?"

"Fine, how about we start after dinner."

"Sure!" he chased after them cutting them off in the hallway. "How about I walk with you to Charms?"

"How are you James?" Mary asked, obviously pleased with his company.

"I'm well, just a little tired. Detentions don't really give you enough time to do homework and get a good nights sleep."

"Maybe you should stop being a delinquent then." Lily replied crossly.

"But then life wouldn't be nearly as fun." He smirked despite himself, Mary laughed, Lily looked rather angry.

James went back down to the common room. He made sure to mess his hair up a couple more times before he found who he was looking for. Lily had a sheet of parchment out, and looked like she was concentrating hard on a book.

"Evans, you busy?" He asked politely.

"Yes Potter, yes I am, I need to do this assignment. Leave me alone." She replied without glancing up from her book.

"What subject?" He glanced sideways at the cover. "Transfiguration? Hey, want some help? I do well in Transfiguration."

She glanced up at him and he smiled. She had to admit she needed help, but could she really trust him?

"I guess I could use some help. …" She replied sorely.

"Wonderful." James replied from the seat next to her. "Well, this is the wrong motion your describing here." He started reading her half written essay. "And you might want to add that it's harder to Transfigure something larger because of it's size. Just even so it adds some length…"

"What's the correct way to do it then Potter?" She asked now aggravated.

James took out his wand and set her book on the table. He raised his wand and cast the spell on the book then transfigured it back.

"See what I did?" He asked a smile played on his face.

"Yeah….that was pretty good Potter." She smiled back and took out her wand.

"Okay? You want to try?" He asked pushing the book closer to her.

Lily mimicked what James did only moments before and nothing happened. She sighed and tried again, still nothing happened. She waved her wand a few more times in aggravation.

"Here." James took her hand and held it up a bit higher then where she had it. "Like that okay….say the spell…" She did, a bit more confidently and the book transfigured.

"Brilliant! Thank you James!"

"If you ever get stuck just ask. Especially if its Transfiguration, I'm quite good at it." He was back to his normal cocky self, now that Lily seemed impressed.

"You can let go of my hand now." She replied firmly he sighed and did as she asked, then ran a hand through his hair.

"So….uh…when do you want to study potions." he asked. "I'll make time if I need to."

"Whenever, do you want to start tonight? After you help me finish my essay?" She smiled.

"Of course, just change that part I showed you, get rid of this line…I'll go get my essay hold on." James then dashed back up the stairs into his dorm room.

"James whatcha running from? Evans outside waiting with a vicious spell?" Sirius teased.

"Maybe she's correcting it?" Remus replied he set down his book.

"No idiot, she's in a good mood…"he started digging through a bag. He groaned and then went to the table where he usually finished his homework.

"I don't think she'll like your dirty socks." Remus replied as a few pair of socks flew across the room.

"Shh! Do you know where I put my Transfiguration essay?" James asked glancing around again.

"You lent it to Peter, should still be on his desk…" Remus replied watching him suspiciously as if he were going crazy or sick.

"Ah hah! Thank you." He ran back out the door a smile on his face.

"What's up with him?" Sirius asked.

Remus shrugged. "Maybe he's using it to buy potions homework from her?"

The first week of studying with James, Sirius and Remus didn't go to badly. Severus told her he couldn't believe she lasted that long with him.

"Potter, stop before I strangle you." Lily replied sharply. Her arms were crossed, she made no progress what so ever with James. Professor Slughorn let them use the classroom every evening after dinner. James preferred sabotaging Sirius' potion to working on his. Severus from time to time would stop by to see Lily since his Common room was close. He'd never stay longer than ten minuets though because of the way James and Sirius treated him. She wasn't just frustrated at this point, she was absolutely furious.

"You know what I'm going to Professor Slughorn. I'm going to tell him your such an arrogant git I can't even stand being in the same room as you."

"Come on Evans, were having fun, I don't want to be bored in my free time." He replied as if she asked him why he was being the biggest jerk in the world.

"You're here to study not play!" She snapped. "Your not getting my help if you won't cooperate."

"All right, all right, calm down before you explode. I'll be a good boy." She scoffed. "Really. I'll leave Sirius alone. Now come back and watch me blow up my cauldron again." She held back a smile as she walked back and took a seat next to him.

"You wouldn't have last time if you would have listened to me." She sat back down and crossed her arms looking at him with every sign of complete annoyance. "Why must you make life difficult?"

"Not difficult. I like to call it making life more interesting. Come on," he teased. "You laughed when it caught on fire last week." He smiled weakly hoping for encouragement.

"You know what I'd like to be doing now? Sitting in my room and talking to Mary, or reading a book, or studying with my friends."

"Come on, I'm not ruining your life." he started chopping some roots. "Your just proving to ol' Sluggy that your as amazing as he thinks you are."

She raised an eyebrow. "How? Your not making any improvements."

"Yes I have. You don't see me in class, or correct my assignments. He's amazed at my progress, I'm learning loads."

"You have to be lying." She replied with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm not, honest. You can ask him yourself. Look at all the notes I've been taking. Copious notes." He pushed his notes in her direction. "I even wrote things in my book."

She looked over his notes and sighed. "Then why are you being so awful then?"

"I'm not trying to be awful. I was trying to be fun. But if you don't want fun…"

"Don't put that in yet! It has to turn blue first.."

James stopped and started to stir again. "It amazes me how you know all of this without looking at the book." He glanced back at Lily she looked tired and her held her head in her hands. "What's wrong? Feeling I'll?"

"No…" She replied and glanced up at him. "Just tired and stressed.. I wish I had some tea."

"Want me to nick you some from the kitchen? I'll do it right after we're done, just wait in the common room…"

"You'll get caught and get me into trouble."

"I wouldn't I do it all the time the house elves know my name by now." He smirked.

"That's awful…"

"It is not. They like the work. They love giving me things."

Lily sighed. "How do your parents live with you? Do you drive them insane as well or do they ignore you and that's why your so attention seeking?"

"I act different at home. I don't have friends there."

"You're an only child? That explains a lot."

"Thanks…" He sounded both hurt and annoyed. "My parents waited until too late in their life to have me. So I'm the only one, they can't have anymore. It's boring but, I don't mind anymore, I have friends. Can I add it now?"

"Yeah, should be fine." She replied groggily.

He dumped the roots in the potion, he seemed a bit more melancholy than he was earlier this session.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"I'm bored it's too quiet."

"Potter…"

"What it's true."

"Fine…then go get some tea for me please."

"Is it done?"

"It needs to simmer for a few minuets. You'll be back in time. Besides, I wouldn't let anything bad happen to it."

"All right. Fancy anything else? Caldron cakes? I'll bring you a box, both Sirius and Remus like them."

"Don't get caught…"

"I won't stop worrying."

He walked into the hallway and strolled to the kitchen pulling his invisibility cloak out of his pocket halfway down the hall. Lily stired the potion and turned the heat down to a simmer. When she looked back up Remus had taken James seat. She smiled at him.

"Sirius isn't doing too bad either. Maybe another week and we won't have to do it anymore." he said.

"That would be wonderful then I can relax again."

"I'll miss studying with _just_ you."

She smiled. "We'll just study in the library, just don't bring anyone else."

" I don't think Severus likes me."

"He doesn't loath you. He loathes Potter and Black though, I'm sure the feeling is mutual."

"Oh yes. I don't think they'll ever get along."

Lily stirred the potion again. "Do you think he'll get caught?"

"No, he and Sirius sneak around at least eight times a day. They only get caught if they start to hex people."

When James wandered back into the classroom with a tea pot in one hand, a box of cakes under his arm and pitcher of pumpkin juice in his other hand.

"I have cups too….in my cloak…want to help me?"

Sirius grabbed the tea and pitcher from his hands and set them on the table. James removed the cups from his cloak and set the box of cakes on the table.

"I didn't bring sugar or milk…I didn't know what you liked.."

"It's fine, I drink it plain most times." Lily replied with a smile. He took the teacup and carefully set it down, then took the pot form the table and poured it in the teacup.

"Fancy a cake?" Sirius opened the box and shoved one in his mouth. James took a couple and handed them to Remus and Lily.

"Sirius could eat them all himself." Remus replied. "Want to study Saturday? We could do it during the match?"

"Sure, that's excellent actually. Sev wants to go so we can just study in the common room." Lily ate some of the cake and smiled. "This is pretty good. I usually eat the pumpkin pastys."

"Want pumpkin juice Evans?" James asked. " I got four cups, just incase I messed up the tea."

"No thank you. I'll drink the tea." She poured another cup and sat back down in her seat.

"No fair. Your potion looks better than mine. I want to work with Evans." Sirius grumbled, he looked at James potion which was now the right shade of orange.

"I get Evans. She likes me better."

"You two were fighting." Sirius bellowed. " They probably heard you in China. Evans, lets ask to switch. James doesn't appreciate you."

"I made tea for her you git." James replied with a stern look.

Lily started to laugh. "I'd almost feel special. Except it's over help with school work." She sipped her tea they both looked over at her puzzled.

"You fancy a date with one of us?" Sirius asked suddenly. She almost choked on her tea.

"No, I didn't say that."

"Here I thought you'd fancy Remus." Sirius replied. "But apparently you feel for my good looks."

"Why on earth would she fall for you when I'm more handsome and intelligent than you are?" James replied.

Lily shook her head. "Your both idiots. Why don't you bottle your potion Potter."

"I forgot." He set his pumpkin juice on the table and filled a vile. "This looks much better than the first assignment. Think he'll change my grade?"

"You'd better hope so. You didn't get any points before."

"Sluggy just loves you. Ask him to do it? I did it myself right? I dis serve it.." He replied hopefully.

"I'll see what I can do Potter. As much as you annoyed me you really did do a good job.

He moved his chair to the other side of the table so he was facing her and smiled. She sipped her tea, he drank his pumpkin juice without lifting his gaze from her stunning green eyes.

"What?" She asked. "Do I have something on my face?"

"No, I just like your eyes. They're beautiful."

She blushed a little. "Thank you. But could you be just a little bit less creepy?"

He smirked and ran a hand through his hair. "Maybe."

"Well if you don't stop I'll knock your chair over." She smirked back. "Your friends will laugh at you."

"You wouldn't. Not sweet innocent Lily Evans."

She pushed his chair back with her foot. "Hey! What do you think your doing?" He laughed.

"Trying to knock you out of your chair." She giggled. "Stop trying to stop me."

"Your cruel, very cruel. Why are you trying to hurt me?"

"It won't hurt. I promise." She smiled sweetly.

"Stop flirting your making me sick." Sirius said a bit annoyed.

"I'm not flirting with Potter. I'm teasing him!" she yelled back at Sirius as if it made any difference.

"Sure you are." he rolled his eyes, "There's a closet down the hall go snog each other."

Lily out of annoyance Lily tossed one of the cakes at his head he caught it.

"Thanks Evans!" he replied after he took a bite from it.

"Git…" She turned back to James he had a smile on his face and went back to staring at her.

"I'll hurt you."

"I like you."

"That's nice."

"You like me too."

"Don't lie to yourself."

"You don't hate me?" He asked sounding a bit hurt.

"When your not being a bully or an arrogant git your all right."

"See, you like me. We're friends?"

"Maybe, were not enemies."

"I'd hope not. Although, you've been helping me and I'm not failing anymore. Hey, stop laughing at me."

Lily smiled and nodded. "Why do you care? You have how many girls chasing you? Why does it matter if I like you or not?"

"Because your Evans."

It didn't feel like two weeks had passed since then. But their time at Hogwarts was growing shorter and shorter. She started studying for the end of the year exams that everyone had to take next month. After she stopped tutoring James in potion she expected him to act the same as he did then to her. But he was ignoring her rather well, when she asked Remus about it he told her simply he didn't want to bother her when she was with her friends.

"At least he's not making you study with them anymore." Severus said importantly, they were on their way towards the potions classroom.

"Well last time he wasn't so bad. But I honestly can say I won't miss his company." Severus smirked at Lily's comment. "Have you been having fun with Malfoy?"

"Ah, we get along all right. It's not as great as having you." He replied earnestly with a frown forming on his face.

She smiled lightly. "But you had a lot more fun than I did. Potter and Black.." She groaned. "Potter didn't really even need my help. He just needed to be scolded so he'd actually try the assignment. It felt like I was with a five year old."

Severus laughed, as did Lily they descended the staircase then headed off towards the dungeons. "Poor Remus, it seemed he did everything for Black. Then Potter would do something stupid like throw wormwood in his potion so it was ruined."

"So, just like potions?"

"A bit worse than potions. Well, a couple of weeks ago he started bringing me tea. So Potter hasn't been too incredibly horrible."

"He snuck into the kitchens?" he shook his head. "You should report him, I doubt he's allowed.."

"I'd get into trouble too. I let him go the first time he did it, I wanted him to leave me alone, he was being a git."

Severus nodded he looked sympathetic. They walked into the classroom, still continuing their conversation the classroom was almost completely empty. No sooner did they sit down then the door flew open and James Potter strolled in with Sirius Black, they were laughing loudly. Lily, who was still trying to have a conversation with her friend did not look amused. She rolled her eyes when James saw her and smirked. Severus tried to hold back a laugh. James strolled over to Lily casually messing up his hair, when he got to the table he leaned foreword and smiled at her. But before he could say anything else she propped up her book, obstructing him from view. James frowned a bit annoyed that she refused to give him attention. Severus laughed causing James to round on him.

"What are you laughing at Snivillus? One of your imaginary friends make a joke?" He smirked, a few people listening behind them giggled. Lily slammed her book down on the table and glared at him.

"Just because he's not a spoiled wanker like you doesn't mean he doesn't have friends. With how you act I'm surprised you have any." The look on his face soured. Severus looked almost joyful now. Lily promptly put the book back up to block the view of James Potter. Unfortunately, he looked over the book and replied, in a hurt voice.

"Sorry Evans." he said earnestly. "I know I haven't been that great to you in our study sessions and all…" She scoffed. "Let me make it up to you." She glanced up over the top of the book after a moment of silence apparently figuring he left. Instead she caught his hazel eyes, full of emotion. She had to reason with herself, It was just an act, a ploy to get more attention.

"Just go away Potter!" Severus grumbled obviously annoyed with his persistence. James shrugged, and walked away after giving Lily a hopeful look and winking. She frowned. There was no way she could hate him with Severus. Either it was his charm, or his magnetic personality and charisma, but she couldn't think of him as badly as Severus wanted her to. She knew Deep down, Under his tough exterior was a good guy, and she was genuinely interested in that.

James set a box of chocolates in front of Lily in Transfiguration class. She eyed him suspiciously. It was wrapped so nicely she doubted he did it himself.

"What's that Potter?" She asked.

"It's a thank you for helping me with Potions." He smiled lightly.

She tugged on the large gold bow carefully, apparently afraid something would explode, or jump out at her, he seemed to sense it.

"It's perfectly safe. I wouldn't hurt you." He said firmly.

She tugged on the corner of the paper and unwrapped it. Mary watched from the seat next to her, holding back a giggle. Sitting in front of her was a large box of wizard chocolates, similar to the ones James shared with them when his parents sent them care packages. She smiled.

"Thank you." She said sweetly.

He smiled. "Sorry I got on your nerves so much. I don't want you to hate me."

"Oh…" She replied softly. She was still glancing at the box. "I don't hate you. Your just not my favorite person."

He smiled lightly. "Friends?" he held out his hand. She shook it firmly. He went back to his seat next to Sirius. Lily put the box of chocolates in the bag and felt in a much better mood.

The half eaten box of chocolates sat on the table where Lily, Severus and a few others sat studying for finals. Remus commented that James must really like Lily and be true to his word about wanting to be friends if he gave her something so expensive. Quite a few girls in her dorm fussed about it, it was quite annoying she was just starting to feel at home and now they were jealous. Severus however, suspected they were poisoned. Lily thought it was ridiculous, the box was sealed, and wrapped by his mother so said Remus. She loved the ribbon, she tied it in her hair every morning since he gave her the chocolates. James didn't notice, not that she wanted him to, on the other hand Severus was very observant with things like that. She tapped her quill on the table contemplating which spell would be best to use in the situation described in the assignment. Severus was literally useless, his section wouldn't have this assignment until Friday.

"What's the matter?" Severus asked. He liked sitting across the table from her so he could watch her study. She met his gaze and smiled.

"Oh nothing it's just the charms assignment. I always have to stop and think if we actually learned these spells before I write things down. I've read so many advanced ones on my own it's so hard to remember what ones we've actually learned how to do."

"Oh," he frowned. "Just check over your notes, you'll be fine."

"I have been it just takes more time to do so." She twirled her quill in her hand. "I'm worried about the test, what if I fail? They'd kick me out…"

"I'm sure they'll be easy tests." He started but he was cut off by Remus who finally decided to speak.

"You'll do fine Lily, they wouldn't kick a bright girl like you out." She smiled, Severus frowned.

"You guys are sweet." She wrote something else down, then looked up at them again. "Do you think I'm a know it all?"

They both looked at her puzzled. Severus was the first to speak. "No, who told you that nonsense? Potter? Black?" Remus looked furious and was about to retort when Lily replied.

"No, apparently Avery said it to one of his friends when I answered that question in potions today. Mary only told me right after class."

Lily wrote the answer to the next question. Severus finished his potions essay, and Remus added the last few lines to his transfiguration in silence. Out of no where they heard a loud bang in the hallway. Lily looked up horrified. Remus looked at his watch and frowned.

"What do you suppose that noise was?" Lily asked a few other bangs were heard they seemed to be getting closer and closer.

"One day I'll learn to stop telling them how to make things." Remus sighed a frown formed on his face. "They're setting off fireworks in the school. From what it sounds like they're setting them off down the hallways."

"That's horribly dangerous!" Lily replied scolding Remus for giving them the idea.

"McGonagal will punish them don't worry." Severus said. "Every time anything goes wrong we know the Marauders are behind it."

"I know Sev, but how can they be so irresponsible what if they hit someone!" Lily vented.

"They're just being boys. They don't always act out Lily, you should know. You've seen them often in the common room."

"Is this just how things are going to be? I try and be a nice person, then Potter goes and makes me second guess myself by doing something incredibly stupid and annoying?" She groaned.

Remus tried his hardest to not to laugh, but couldn't help the few that escaped as he was responding. "Well, I suppose until he grows up.. It may very well be like that."

"How are you even friends with them? Your nothing like them Remus. Severus and I both like to learn, we work hard in or lessons, we read and explore with potions. What could you four possibly besides drive each other mad?"

Lily never found out what he would have said next. The fireworks moved closer to the library, and one wizzed around the room as it entered at the same time a Ravenclaw entered. As it wizzed past them she gave Remus a disapproving look and she went to study in a location, that was hopefully firework free. She ended up avoiding the library completely for the rest of the school year because of the smell the fireworks left. In the end she blamed Sirius more than James, as did the entire staff after he admitted to building enough fireworks to last Hogwarts years.


	4. Dating Sirius Black

Chapter Four: Dating Sirius Black

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all of it's characters don't belong to me.

Since school had been coming to an end Lily found she had more time to explore the grounds. She'd finish her assignments hours before dinner, then head off towards her favorite spot by the lake. On occasion she'd run into the grounds keeper, and chat animatedly about all sorts of magical animals and news. It made her feel accomplished in a way, knowing even adults wanted to spend some time with her. Once or twice she volunteered to stay after Herbology to help Professor Sprout, she not only gave her extra points for her efforts, but alerted her to various books that would help with her study. The fact she was Muggleborn died down almost completely. Except for a few glares and whispers, which were all from Slytherins, just as James and Sirius had told her they would be, she was still incredibly popular. She sat down directly under a tree and opened a library book. She leaned into it and relaxed.

"Well well, if it isn't the popular little Mudblood of the year." Came a voice she didn't recognize.

She frowned and looked up to see a group of Slytherins standing across from her. As she was completely out numbered she was feeling nervous.

"What do you want?" She replied sharply.

"For you to get your things and leave Hogwarts. This is for Witches and Wizards….."

"I am a witch, I bet I have higher grades now than you did…"

A hex hit her and she fell back, hitting her head against the tree. She held her head and made a small noise that made the Slytherins laugh.

"If your so advanced you should have seen that coming Mudblood. What's wrong? Don't know anything about non verbal spells?"

"Goyle, why you hexing first years? Can't actually get a hex at older students?" Sirius Black asked.

She let out a sigh or relief. The girl who was teasing her earlier turned to him and scoffed.

"Oh dear cousin, shall I let your mother know your dating a Mudblood."

"Please do." He replied happily. "Add in that we're planning on having children when we turn fifteen after we drop out of school."

Lily had to hold back a laugh as the Slytherins gave him a disgusted look. She'd thank him later really she would. James suddenly came down the corridor, pitcher of pumpkin juice in one hand and said rather loudly.

"I swear mate your going to be as big as Peter one day, you ate all the cookies already!" He seemed to just notice the scene in the hallway. "Ah! A Slytherin party! Naturally as a pure bloods we're invited. I brought refreshments, what's the entertainment."

Lily started giggling immediately, James turned to her and rumpled his hair with an abnormally large grin.

"We thought hexing Sirius' dear Mudblood would be perfect entertainment, care to help Potter?"

He looked Lily over as if pretending to give it some thought. As soon as he thought a witty response he turned back to Narssica and replied. "If I did would you put in a good word to Voldemort for me?"

James and Sirius roared with laughter. The Slytherins grumbled to themselves as they walked back to the dungeons. Lily looked over to the boys with great admiration. They now were talking adamantly to themselves. James waved his arms imitation one of the girls who seemed offended that Sirius called Lily his girlfriend. Sirius mimicked swooning at him, in the same manner one of the girls had done to James when he reached that part of the hallway. She couldn't help but giggle, causing them to realize she was still there.

"You all right there Evans?" Sirius asked

"Well, yes, I'm fine thank you both."

James waved his hand almost as if saying it wasn't any effort at all. "It's fine, that was actually quite enjoyable, best fun I've had making them mad this month actually. Thank you for the opportunity."

She giggled. Sirius looked over the two of them then smirked. "Don't go stealing my girlfriend James."

James laughed in response, Lily however didn't look as pleased.

"Please don't spread that. I don't want to date anyone, and no offence to you but, I don't want anyone to think I'd go with a delinquent like you."

Sirius looked back at her with a less than thrilled expression. "Well sorry Miss Perfect. Sorry to tarnish your reputation with my sully lifestyle."

James only chuckled in response. Lily glared at him, Sirius just watched her with an indifferent expression.

"I didn't mean it quite like that. I just don't want your damned fan club harassing me because you said that. You don't know what it's like to have them pester you because you talk to someone as popular as you…"

"Please. Your forgetting what people here in decent houses think about you. I had five guys ask me what your favorite color was so they could send you a letter in that color ink."

She blushed lightly. "Well, you could have at least got it right Potter, it's green."

He laughed. "Oh I'm aware of that, but why should I give them correct information." He started off down the hallway after Sirius. She followed shortly behind, just incase the Slytherins came back.

"But really, if your going to pretend you're my boyfriend, can't you at least be more affectionate?" She teased. Sirius turned around and smirked.

"You want to hold my hand?" He asked.

"No, you have to give me things for that level of affection Black dear." She teased. James feigned indifference. "No, but really what are you going to do about the rumors that are going to spawn overnight?"

He shrugged making her frown. "You really don't care do you?"

"No, not really, your cute Evans. If it bothers you say you broke up with me I really don't care, it's not like we're actually dating, I just said it to make Narssica shut her bloody trap."

"I just wonder how I'll explain it to my friends. You know, after they've heard we're dating." Lily sighed.

"Well, just tell Mary and Alice they could always try asking him out themselves if their jealous." James replied with a laugh.

"Or are you worried about Snivillus?" Sirius asked hitting the mark. "I'm sure he'll be thrilled. Just tell him the truth if it bothers you. What's he going to do give his Slytherins an earful."

"Your such a blunt person Black, you know that?" Lily replied sweetly. "Remind me what a wanker you've been in the past few minuets the next time you need help with an assignment."

"Oh! By the way Evans?" James started. "Could you look over my potions assignment? I'm trying to perfect a few so I know I'll pass the exams. Remus won't let me copy his notes."

"I think I'll be able to find some free time tomorrow. About what time would you prefer?" Lily replied.

"Oh, mate, tomorrows no good. Quiddich match, you need to be there, you can't miss it you need to know what your up against next year." Sirius coaxed. "You want to make the team after all…"

"Black shut it. Stop being insensitive to your friend. He cares about his future, how would Quiddich help with that?" She bantered back at him.

"Maybe after the game? We could study in the library, unless you'd rather tomorrow night after the party, then we'd have the common room."

"We'll see." Lily replied nicely. "I suppose we'll have to part Sirius love. I need to go to the library to study."

The next day she twirled her quill bored. Why she came too early to class she'd never know. Actually, that was a lie. At 8:45 she walked past a few Slytherins who whispered about a new rumor they started. Her and Sirius Black as a couple, she laughed at the thought, which only seemed to make things worse. She then walked past a few fellow first years from her own house, who looked her over in awe. Needless to say she was starting to get freaked out. The Hufflepuffs she past acted in the same manner, the Ravenclaw girls just studied her. Just as she seemed to find a seat and make herself feel comfortable with her friends, another group of Slytherins walked past.

"Mudblood stick with your own kind." One said nastily.

She only smiled in response, until she tried tripping her in the Great Hall. So, feeling bold Lily replied quite loudly. "Sirius Black is so good at snogging why would I want another."

Naturally the Great Hall fell silent at the sound of his name. So, a bit too shyly she grabbed a couple of pumpkin pasties before taking off out the door again. Instead she ate breakfast in the empty Potions Classroom, where she knew no one would follow. However, she looked up when the door slammed.

"Are you really seeing Black?" he asked his voice very dangerous.

"No, I had a bit of trouble with Slytherins hexing me yesterday. He and Potter helped me out, his cousin was being rude so he just kind of went along with her and said he was dating me."

"So you really didn't snogg him?" He asked his tone was more compassionate.

"No." She replied, he settled in the seat next to her and pulled out his assignment.

"The assignment for last night was really easy." He said changing the subject.

"Yeah, I finished mine in about ten minuets. What did you think about defense?" She replied.

"I feel like I missed something, but there's no harm since it's the right length. After your advice after dinner charms was easy, thanks for that."

"No problem Sev." They were quiet just a few more minuets before he spoke again.

"What did they do exactly?" He asked, she noted the tone of concern in his voice.

"Just what they do to every Muggleborn student. They told me to leave, insulted me, hexed me, I'm really very glad Potter and Black showed up. There were six of them, two of them wanted to hurt me Sev, I was really…"

"That's why I didn't want the word to get around that your Muggleborn. They grow out of it, well, that's what Malfoy said. Creswell, that bloke in the Slug club the year before us is too. He said they gave him hell last year between classes, then just move on. After this whole…thing with Black blows over you should be fine. I mean, he doesn't actually like you does he?" He looked over at her, she seemed to have found a piece of hair on her sweater.

"No," She started, "He seemed to find the whole thing to be a blast, it's just a new way to make people mad, and well, until I decide that I'm 'breaking it off' his fan club leaves him alone and makes me feel like rubbish."

"Just tell him your done with his game." He grumbled to himself. "You disserve so much better than him anyway."

"I was thinking it's quite useful for me as well." She replied after tucking her quill behind her ear. "In theory if he likes me, they should leave me alone. Why would want to make their crush unhappy? Maybe the Slytherins would stop…"

Severus looked her over. He ran a hand through his hair and frowned. "If they've been bothering you, you should have told me sooner. I'll get Malfoy to make them stop, they respect him."

"It's a difficult subject to bring up. It's not always something I can't handle either, their sniggering behind my back in class doesn't bother me. Just…just let me enjoy annoying them a little longer with Black. I don't fancy him, I won't actually snog him or something, I'd just enjoy some friendly banter with him."

He nodded, unhappily when a few other students whispered to each other about Lily and Sirius. She ignored them while Severus glared daggers at them until they stopped. He watched a few more students file in, they also glanced at Lily and whispered. After ten more students did this, he noticed she was getting rather annoyed, the timing couldn't have been more perfect when James Potter and Sirius Black walked into the room. They sat in their normal seats, he made no attempt to talk to Lily, which made him extremely pleased. The tide turned for the worst when the class ended however. When she was packing her things up, not caring in the least if she was the last one out of the class he leaned over the table she was just sitting at and smiled at her. Immediately the chatter started up. Severus saw the warning look she gave him in her eyes. That only seemed to amuse him, either that or he was completely oblivious to how mad she'd be with the comments he was about to make.

"So, after dinner want to come up to our room and study? You know, like the other night when you found out what a great snogger I am." he said with a air of delight.

"No thank you, I'm afraid I already promised my hair I'd wash it six times tonight, and I have homework, I'm a very busy girl you know."

A small smile formed on his face. Severus held back a laugh at her comment, Sirius however didn't stop there.

"Well, if your hair gets tired of being washed you know where to find me, dear." He added the last bit with a type of sarcasm only a select few could understand. "I would absolutely love to see you tonight after all."

Severus stared at her in shock when she started giggling. He then winked at her then walked past a few chattering girls out the door. He didn't say anything to her, at least until the next time they were in Potions, when the news they had broken up was circulating.

He was sitting in the library, by himself reading a book. He ignored the shuffling of books coming from the other side of the table at first, any person would likely sit by him in the library, and he was in the best spot for studying Defense against the Dark Arts. He furrowed his eyebrows and continued reading.

"Are you really this mad at me for messing with Black?" She asked suddenly causing him to drop his book and stare at her wide eyed.

"No, it's just….We've both been busy….He's really not a good person either Lily, he likes to…"

"I know he has a lot of flaws Sev, but he's not a good friend of mine and he wasn't dating me. Quite frankly I wouldn't date him unless he paid me."

A small smile formed on his face, he lifted the book he dropped and brushed it off, almost as if it fell into a pile of dust instead of a nice polished table.

"The only guy I really like right now is Simon, you know, my friend Jessica's cousin he's in Ravenclaw. He's so nice, he's obviously bright too, but if anyone ever told him I had a crush on him he'd likely laugh at me. A first year with a fourth year is a little awkward."

His attitude changed again, he tucked the book into his bag and crossed his arms. "Well yeah, he's popular, so he'd probably would." He felt bad with the look she gave him, he could see the tears forming in her eyes.

"I'm not old enough to date anyway. Maybe when I'm fifteen, but not now." She played with a piece of her hair.

"I didn't mean it like that…I just don't think it's a good idea." She was quiet so he stood up and went over and hugged her. She rested her head in the crook of his neck and said softly.

"Your not mad about the whole Black thing though? It kind of got me back to fitting in…the things they were saying lost me a couple of friends.."

He ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "I'm not mad at you. But there are better ways to solve your problem with them besides pretending to date him. You could have told me, I talked to a couple of people about it."

"You know it's not going to completely stop. I've just had a tough week, and messing around with him was a lot of fun truth be told. I just don't want to lose more friends because of stupid rumors and lies. We're practically finished with the year and I'm already reading things for next year, academically I'm doing well. So I'd rather not chance anything else, that's why I had him stop, girls in my house were giving me an earful."

"I'm surprised you don't just tell them to shove off. You pretty much do it to anyone else anyway." She laughed lightly causing him to join in.

"It still does hurt my feelings though." She let go of him and sat back down. He followed, but took out his potions book and flipped it open.

"They don't matter, once we're out of school we'll probably never see them again. I tried the tip you gave me on the bubbly potion, works like a charm, how'd you figure it out?"

"It kind of happened by accident, I was distracted by Potter and Black making a ruckus in the back, and I added a few counter clockwise stirs, so then when I switched back it went to the right color straight away, I doubt it works with all of them but it should be something useful to try."

She watched him write some things down, and glanced over the page. She noticed the writing that was obviously not his and thought for a moment.

"Was your Mum good in potions?" She asked.

He shrugged. "I think she was good enough at her classes, but she wasn't as good at it as you are. Some of her notes are how not to burn your potion, which is kind of embarrassing…"

She laughed lightly and pulled the book away as soon as he was done writing the note in the margin. She then pulled a muggle ink pen out of her bag and wrote a couple of other things next to what he just wrote, then flipped a few pages ahead and wrote another note in the margin. He smiled lightly and watched her.

"Whatcha writing?" He asked in a tone that made it clear to her she could do pretty much whatever she wanted without complaint.

"There are a couple things you can add to make these more effective. The one here, we haven't made yet for clearing sinuses, I made it for Mary, added a fig and some nutmeg and it worked like a charm, she didn't have to wait half an hour for the potion to become effective. Almost the second she drank it she felt better. I'm rather fond of healing potions, maybe I should tell Professor Slughorn you reckon he'd get me an internship or something?"

"If he could he would, you know you're his favorite from our year. There's no one else he talks about as much as you. The Slytherins in their seventh year hear him talk about you in potions, he doesn't say your Muggleborn, but he raves about you."

She blushed lightly. "I hear that from older Gryffindor students too, one actually told me if I didn't get prefect he'd either yell at McGonagal or make me Slytherin prefect, I don't know how well that would work…"

"Well if that happened I'd have to get Prefect too, then you wouldn't have to patrol with some mean Slytherin."

She giggled. "I don't think that could actually happen, I can't imagine the reaction from people in my house if it did. I don't know if they'd be amused a Gryffindor was chosen over a Slytherin to be prefect for their own house or if they'd be horrified I'd do it."

"I don't think you'll have a problem anyway, the girls in your house are kind of preoccupied with Black or Potter, they don't seem to bright…"

"Things change…"

"I don't think that will change too much though, they love the attention they get, they apparently love being in detention too. Someone told me they made it sound like a contest who could get in the most detentions in a month."

"I really don't know them well enough to judge if that's true or not. Whatever they want to do, I just hope to stay away from them when their trouble…"

"They go after me any time they can."

"Then hex them, it would serve them right. Besides, it's not like they're my friends. Not that I want you to go after them for no reason, but if it's in defense then they disserve it."

He looked over at the clock and frowned. "I have to go…" She nodded as he put the potions book back in his bag. "A couple of the guys needed some help with Astronomy and apparently later wasn't an option. I guess they want to try and practice Quiddich after dinner, if your not busy maybe we could meet then?"

"Tonight's pretty bad actually…I still need to do Transfiguration, Remus said he'd help me the best he could, but Potter helped him with it so I might have to see if he's feeling in the mood to help me."

"I could help if we weren't a day behind you…" He stood up and flung his bag over his shoulder. She smiled at him. "I know, when less people are in our classes we can study together more often."

"Do you want me to walk you back?" He asked with a sincere look, causing her to blush.

"No, I should be fine, I doubt they'll bother me while I go up the stairs. Thank you though." She reached over and gave him a hug. He pulled away reluctantly and headed down the stairs to the dungeons. She only got up one flight of stairs before she was distracted.

"Evans, you sure have an odd taste in boys."

She sighed and looked down the hallway at the two boys who were obviously scouting for a place for a new prank.

"What are you two trying for now detention sixteen?" she asked plainly. The staircase moved and she realized she'd be stuck with them for several minuets without escape.

"Twenty actually, and that is entirely up to if we get caught. We charmed the door to Muggle Studies." James said enthusiastically.

"Did you now? What does it do if you don't mind my curiosity." She replied with a smile. James rumpled his hair and Sirius laughed.

"Oh you would like to know, wouldn't you? How can we trust you to not run to McGonagal and tell her were being delinquents?" Sirius replied.

The staircase came back from a different route and a few third years walked past whispering. She smiled lightly and replied. "Your still just upset that I broke up with you, that's what this is all about."

He laughed. "You've got your facts wrong Lily, I was the one who broke up with you, you and your awful habit of reading books more than snogging, maybe if you were better at it we'd still be together."

The group of girls went up the staircase as it came back around and she shot him a warning look. "You foul ass, now everyone's going to say I can't snogg because of you."

"I'll make it up to you tomorrow over breakfast if it makes you feel better." He replied.

"How do either of us know you can snogg Evans?" James replied.

"Good point, maybe it should be tested before breakfast?" Sirius replied.

"Don't make me vomit." She replied disgusted.

They all turned down the hallway to see a fifth year walking back down the corridor, towards the Muggle Studies classroom, James and Sirius grinned like Cheshire cats as he neared the door unexpectedly, Lily raised her eyebrows and waited in half anticipation half horror as he reached for the door knob.

"Welcome friend, come on in, join us here for Lord Voldemort's favorite class!"

She stifled a laugh as the boys roared with laughter, the Fifth year started to laugh as it continued with other verses, including how Slytherin would lose every Quiddich match for the next twelve years if more Slytherin didn't sign up.

The student then, walked off towards the Professor's office, needless to say Lily, James and Sirius started heading back to their common room. After Professor Flitwick reversed the charm on the door they decided Peeves was the culprit, causing both James and Sirius to be delighted with their prank the rest of the week.

However Lily's trouble didn't stop for at least another month. In their final days of school she was still plagued with questions by girls older than her on how to get Sirius Black to go out with them. She found it more annoying than people that asked her to do their potions homework for them.

"So, your saying I shouldn't just…ask him out this weekend? Or send him Owls everyday this summer?"

Lily nearly dropped her toast. One of her roommates had just asked her to confirm that her tips were right after she practically taught a class on how to get Sirius Black to like you and not to pointedly ignore you.

"Are you being serious Mary?" She sighed.

"No. I just thought you'd be glad to hear that Blacks dating someone so they're calming down. Maybe they'll ask you for love advice for Potter next. After all, who would know Potter better and Black, oh, oh god…maybe you could have Black co host the seminar. That would be bloody brilliant!"

Lily rolled her eyes and sighed. "Right. The only thing any girl needs to know about Potter to get his attention is to give him your undivided attention, then he'd be thrilled with you."

"Nah, that's not entirely true." She turned her head to come face to face with James Potter. "I need a bright girl, a bright pretty girl, see, I need someone who'll keep me on my toes, both intellectually and physically."

"What do you mean by physically." Mary asked. Lily tried silence her with a very angry glare but it failed.

"Well, I need to test out all the good hexes on someone, who else but people flirting with my girl." he rumpled his hair. "I'm so glad Evans is already over my mate though. I'd hate to see her depressed, after all, she is my favorite person to debate with." He turned on his heal and strutted off toward his friend.

"I think Potter just admitted he likes you Lily." Mary said.

"I know he likes me he's talked to me at least an hour a day since I tutored him." She took a sip of her pumpkin juice and sighed. "Half the time he's rather annoying."

"Do you like him?" she asked.

"I suppose I do, I don't dislike him. Your going to call me? Right? Your not going to let me go on all summer at home, bored because I don't have anything to do?"

"Of course I will. Maybe you could come over too.. That would be nice. At least you have Snape to talk to back home. I can't talk to anyone about being a witch, it's going to be so hard.."

"My Great Aunt is coming for the summer. Well, maybe about five weeks of the summer. She's busy, so I don't know if I'll be able to keep being a witch a secret." Lily sighed.

"Then don't try keeping it a secret?" Jessica added. You could always come over to my place at some point. We only live about half an hour away. I'll let you know ahead of time if Eric will be there." The girls giggled.

"Maybe if you pretend your heartbroken from Sirius he'd pay more attention to you." Mary added.

"I don't know. I'm still too young for him…The girls he talks to are all his age….I mean he's nice to me, but he's just nice to me because I'm friends with his nerdy cousin."


End file.
